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smartplanet

born in shanghai

January 09 2014

Token Hu was tinkering with Tyvek paper—the indestructible, waterproof, lightweight DuPont invention used to weatherproof homes—while working at Frog Design's Shanghai studio when he got to thinking, why not use Tyvek like Nike uses synthetic and leathers to design high-tech shoes?

That question led Token to spend months cutting, molding and shaping his first wearable prototype and to ultimately found Unbelievable Testing Lab, a technology-driven footwear design firm in Shanghai. It also led to Light Wing, a pair of shoes made out of Tyvek that weigh 150 grams, or a skosh above 5 ounces.

The company, which added a U.S. office, launched a Kickstarter campaign this week to support its limited edition Light Wing project. The Kickstarter project will help fund the company's next round of design specs and bulk material purchasing, finalize 3D modeling for the production molds and reserve factory floor time and tooling to produce the limited edition Light Wing shoe known as The Pencil, according to the company.

The ethic driving the folks at UT.LAB is science. Or more specifically that science is cool. As a result, the company is donating a portion of the profits from every pair of shoes sold in the United States to Teach for America.